Getting the Balance Right: Strengthening Asylum Reception Capacity at National and EU Levels

With arrivals of asylum seekers to the European Union (EU) occurring on a major scale, Member States face daunting technical and political challenges. The resources and institutional reception capacity of some Member States have been overwhelmed in recent months, leaving people homeless or in overcrowded and otherwise precarious shelter and livelihood situations. These outcomes highlight the central importance of well-functioning reception systems for asylum seekers in the European Union, as this MPI Europe report details.

When the reception capacity of one country comes under pressure, efforts to promote solidarity at the wider EU level can be undermined. A country whose overburdened system cannot accommodate more applicants may see new arrivals avoiding or passing through it in search of better conditions elsewhere. Faced with high numbers of arrivals, countries with less-developed reception systems or more limited experience integrating refugees effectively may attempt to deflect migrant flows by, for instance, facilitating their onward travel or closing borders. The result is even greater pressure on neighboring Member States. In a separate point, Member States struggling to process spontaneous arrivals may prove reluctant to accept asylum seekers and refugees by other means, such as relocation or resettlement.

This report, written by the Operational Director for the Belgian reception agency, seeks to understand the reception capacity challenges faced by EU Member States and to stimulate reflection on possible answers. It first presents the three tenets of a successful reception system—flexibility, efficiency, and quality—and the difficulty balancing their often-conflicting demands. It then reflects on divergent national approaches to reception management, and seeks to understand why certain strategies are adopted, and with what consequences for Member States and the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) at large. The report concludes with reflections on the central importance of reception as a building block of the CEAS, and potential ways forward to strengthen its quality, flexibility, and cost efficiency through improved coordination and delivery of support.

In the Spotlight

Use this interactive data tool to view total annual asylum applications in individual European Union Member States and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries and by top nationalities of origin, by year from 2008 to 2015. The data tool also shows individual countries' share of asylum applications per capita and as a share of the EU/EFTA total.

These interactive maps on MPI’s Data Hub display populations of refugees and asylum seekers by origin and country of residence. Learn which countries lead in refugee resettlement, where particular refugee populations have dispersed around the world, and more.

International Program

MPI Europe

Migration Policy Institute Europe, established in Brussels in 2011, is a nonprofit, independent research institute that aims to provide a better understanding of migration in Europe and thus promote effective policymaking.

Moving Europe Beyond Crisis

MPI Europe, in a research initiative that began in January 2014, is focusing on addressing the challenges confronting the EU asylum system and identifying practical ideas for the immediate and longer term to strengthen the Common European Asylum System consistent with the European Union’s interests, values, and obligations.